Intro to Abnormal Behaviour

• Beahviour or Psychological Syndrome with:
• 1) Present distress (or painful symptoms)
• 2) Disabiliy (impaired function in 1+ areas of life)
• 3) Significant increased risk of death, pain, disability or loss f freedom.

• Exclusions
• 1) Exceptable or culturally sanctioned response
• 2) Deviant Behviour
• 3)Conflicts that are b/w individual & Society

Way of defining a mental disorder

• 1) Condition results from inability of some internal mechanism to perform its natural function
• 2) Condition causes some harm to the person (by standads of culture +subjective distress or diffculty in performing expected social & work roles)

Epidemiology: Scientify study of frequency & distribution of disorder within a ppopulation.

Incidence: Number of new cases of a disorder that appear in a popultions during a specifc period of time.

Prevalence: Total number of active cased old & new that are present in a population during a specifc period of time

Lifetime Prevalence: Total proportion of people in a given population who have been affected by the diorder at some point in their lives.

• Females: MD, anxiety, ED,
• Males: Alcoholism, antisocial personality

Equal: Bipolar

• 1) Subjective Distress;
• A-self report/help seek bhv. D- lack of insight, can be fakes, can be situationally appropriate
• 2)Statistical rarity
• A-anchored to normal bhv. D- might be unusal but no harmful, how rare does it have to be? dep isn't?
• 3)Disability or dysfunction
• A-context is importanct, if can improve support may no be so severe as to be a 'disorder' D-its a judgment call on psychs behalf.

A system with varifiable boundaries that delineates the major categories of psychopathology. ie Mood disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Psychotic.....

• Pros:
• 1.Communication (Individual/orgaisations/specialists/education)
• 2.Prognosis- predictable course of the disorder

3.Guides evidence based treatment

• Cons:
• 1.Stigmatisation
• 2.Danger of self-fulfillment
• 3.Fosters power inbalance and dependency
• 4.Limits view of client
• 5.Implies understanding
• 6. Insensitive to contexual influences
• 7. Getting it wrong

Hippocrates (460-377 B.C)

• -Fist to suggest abnormal bhv was from natural cause, not supernatural.
• -Unitary: mental and physical illness both seen an imbalance of four body fluids
• -Treatments:bloodletting, purging, heat and cold).
• -First idea that differnt characteristic cluster together in simular ways (beginings of classigication system)

• Middle Ages
• -Suprnature explanations
• -Possession, witchcraft, punishment for sins

• Creation of Asylums (place of refuge) to house the mentally ill.
• -Communites as a whole should be responsible for their care.

• -Moral Treatment Movement.
• -Pinel (France), Tuke (England), Rsh & Dix (US)
• -Economy change, urbanisation, population growth
• -Moral treatment offered support, care, and degree of freedom, not just housing.
• -Asylms seen as more humane and economical can leaving them in the community.

-1844 Worcester Lunatic Hospital was the first modern, public hospital. Led to AMSAII and publications of cases amount professionals

Pinel (early 1800's) based on observations of patiencts he started to identify groups of bhv

Kraepelin (late 1800's) Dementia Praecox (schizophrenia)

-

• 30s- First classification system designed fr usein hospitals
• Somatic treatments introducted (Fevers, Insulin coma, Lobotomy)
• 40s- Hospitals, war departments, and veteran affairs all led to contempory diagnostic systems.
• 1952- DSM published by APA (86 DSM-II)
• 1987-DSM III: multiaxial system, neutral to aetiology, contained clinical descriptions and detaled criteria
• 2000-DSM IV made to tie in with medical model of ICD-10

• 1-Clinical Disorders: Can have things on Axis 1 that ares of clinical interest but not a disorder
• 2-Personality Disorders & Mental Retardation (12 main). Can include maladaptive personality features, characterists defence mechanisms or coping stles that would be relevant to treating a Axis 1 disorder.
• 3-General Medical Conditions (includes medical conditions that can cause symptoms of Axis 1&2 or act as psychological stressors.
• 4-Psychosocial & Environmental problems, (life events from past years that may impact diagnosis or treatment ie divorce, unemployment).
• 5- Global Assessment of Functioning: level of psychological, social, occupational functioning on scale from 1-100.

• -Very specific criteria but decisions are arbitrary (ie must have 4 symptoms)
• -Doesn't always include current knowledge of normal development
• -Cormorbidity (high overlap in some disorders ie GAD)
• -Cutoffs-implying categorical when its continuous.

• Intergrates a variety of contributions to abnormal bhv.
• Biopsychosocial approach.

• Key Concepts
• 1-Holism & reductionism
• 2-Levels of analysis
• 3-Equifinality/multiple pahways
• 3-Reciprocal causality
• 4-Diathesis-stress model
• 5-Developmental psychopathology

• 1-Neurons & neurotransmitters (ie meds)
• 2-Brain structures
• 3-bhv genetics (polygenic inheritence)

• 1-Evolutionary psych (species-typical characteristic/natural selection/sexual selection)
• 2-Attachment theory
• 3-Temprament (characteristic style of relating to the world/ play role in personality disorders/goodness of fit bio and enviro)
• 4-Emotions and emotional regulation (regulated through cognitions but still brain controlled)
• 5-Learning and cognitions (Modelling/mofidying emo, mot, and temp through learning tho limited)
• 6-Stages of development (Frued & Erikson)

• 1-Social roles and expectations (scripts/labeling theory/SFP causes AB)
• 2-Familial and social relationship functioning( social support/worse to be actively rejected than neglected)
• 3-Genderr and gender roles (influence how psychopathology is expressed)
• 4-Prejudice & Povery (povery to linked to many stessors, linked to minories-prejudice)
• 5-Ethnic and cultural values(shape definition of AB)

Used to refer to the symptoms and signs of metal diorders

A lack of intergration of bhvs impairing coping with different situations.

• 1- Biological
• 2-Psychological (unconscience mental conflicts have roots in childhood)
• 3-Cognitive Behavioural (Bhv & thought process is learned)
• 4-Humanistic (bhv is product of free will)